Swimming will still be allowed at Silver Lake in Salisbury, but access will be a little more difficult as the parking lot to the Silver Lake trail on Route 53 will be closed June 19-28, and July 15-16.
Independent file photo

SALISBURY/LEICESTER — The U.S. Forest Service will temporarily close the heavily used Silver Lake / Falls of Lana parking lot off Route 53 / Lake Dunmore Road in Salisbury for 10 days beginning this week. The parking area will be barricaded prior to a paving and expansion project that will take place from June 19-28. The parking lot will then reopen for public use before it is closes again for striping on July 15 and 16.

“We understand that this is a popular parking area for visitors seeking to hike to Silver Lake and the Falls of Lana and that the timing will impact access to the trailhead,” said Chris Mattrick, district ranger for the Rochester and Middlebury Ranger District of the Green Mountain National Forest. “Our window of opportunity for projects like these closes pretty quickly here in Vermont and it is my hope that these significant improvements will benefit the public for many years to come.”

During the time of the closure, public access to Silver Lake is still available via the Goshen Trail off Forest Road 27 in Goshen, via the Leicester Hollow Trail from the Minnie Baker trailhead in Leicester or the Leicester Hollow trailhead in Brandon.

Parking for Falls of Lana access is available at Branbury State Park for a small fee.

The Forest Service manages hundreds of miles of roads and trails as well as bridges, trailheads, and parking lots for public access to the more than 400,000-acre National Forest.